St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-05-30
TEMPORAL AND ETERNAL.
Sermon by Rev. Stevens, Of Fargo
On the Life of DR.. Chalmers.

Sermon by Rev. Stevens, Of Fargo
On the Life of DR.. Chalmers.
Following is an abstract of the SER
mon preached by Rev. S. w. Stevens, of
Fargo, OAK, at the First Free Baptist
church. Text from II Corinthian iv.
Is. 1.-The things which are seen are
temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal"
Ghe speaker introduced his theme by
uuoting an incident in the life of DR..
Chalmers when the latter in the pres
ence of the general assembly of Scot
land confessed a former miScOnception
of the ministerial Office in the words:
Then, sir, | had forgotten two magni-
tudeS. l thought not of the littleneSS
of time. l carelessly thought not of the
greatness of eternity" From these
words of the great Scotch divine the
theme was deduced of the two magni-
tudeS. the speaker dwelling first on the
littleneSS of time and in the second
place on the greatness of eternity. In
the treatment of the first division of the
subject the view was narrowed to con-
temptation of the littleneSS of the time
allotted to human lives. Quotations
from the scriptures were acduced
to show how job regarded his
udNS us SNllltI llldil d weaver >
shuttle, 1and David sang Behold thou
hast made my days as a handbreadth."
and apt quotations from extra Scriptural
writers showed how the briefnesS of
]ife's day is the burden of many a mod
ern song and complaint. The tranSi-
torinesS of life was illustrated by the
snowflake in the stream and by the
swift-tiowing Aar which binds together
the lakes of BrieutZ and Thun in SwitZ-
erland. We are far more apt to realize
the brevity of our lives when there falls
on our ear the sudden toll of the bell;
life seems short when viewed in the
retrospect rather than in the prospect.
If 1.-The thoughts of youth are long,
long thoughts, then the thoughts of a ge
are ShOrt,ShOr thoughts" Life appears
too short to him who has some cOncep-
tion of the resources of knowledge; to
him who has great work to do and is
eager to finish his task ere he die.
How swift Meeting must have seemed
the minutes to the dying hero on Mt.
'McGregor, longing and striving to COM
plete his allotted work ere compelled to
day down his pen forever! To all who
like him see the end drawing
near and their task incomplete,
how fast seem to run the
sand of times. In the discussion of the
"'Greatness of Eternity" the infinite
future was compared to ShoreleSS sea,
whose horizon fleets ever further and
further from the advancing sail of the
mariner: and on such bOundleSs main
what tiny wavelet seems the period of
a human life. After the consideration
of the theme few reflections suggested
by it we're then INDUCED in, and the
first was that to those who look back
over wasted life and know that it is
IL L. &l,,@ hot 60
cannot be lived over again, and who
realize that the opportunities to prepare
for eternity are fast slipping away, the
thought of the brevity of life must be
a sad one; but to others there need not
be sadness in it. To those who are
Selling opportunities as they pass, who
are ready. for larger, fuller,
happier life beyond the grave
need there be sorrow in the thought of
the rapidity of the journey to it.
To those weary; to those wounded and
worn from the battle of life; to the
bereft and lonely, the thought that the
WEAKNESS, the strife, the partingS will
soon be over can have in it no sadness.
The brevity of life should be stimulus
to earnest endeavor to breaSting of
the waves instead of an idle drifting
Turning the gaze to the endless dura-
ton of eternity the thought of perpetual
exile from God and the everlasting home
of the bleSt must be terrible to him who
is unprepared for heaven. But to him
who looks forward to an immortality of
blessedneSS there is glory rather than
sadness in the thought of its eternity,
for there will be time for the perfect
solution of the perplexing problems of
human existence; for the full acquisi-
ton of knowledge; for the completion
of every task begun: for the sounding
of the depths of that Fathers love who
gave His only begotten Son that whose
ever believeth in Him should not perish
but have everlasting life,